The present invention relates to an imaging device including a main unit and a camera module that is connected to the main unit.
There has been proposed an image data processing apparatus wherein a camera module is added to an information terminal such as a cell-phone in recent years, and it has come into wide use with its evaluated merit that an image can be taken simply at any time. Further, standardization of a connection method between a camera module and a main unit is in progress now (for example, SMIA: Standard Mobile Imaging Architecture and others), and in the present structure, a camera module and a main unit both conforming to standards can be replaced each other.
There is further proposed a camera module which outputs image data obtained through imaging to a main unit under the condition that the image data are raw data which have not been subjected to image processing. In the case of this structure, a main unit in a subsequent stage conducts image processing for inputted raw data based on lens characteristics and on a defective picture-element position of an imaging element in the camera module. Therefore, control data corresponding to types of camera module are stored on the main unit side in advance, and prescribed image processing is conducted on inputted raw data, based on these control data, in this structure. There has been proposed a lens-body all-in-one type camera wherein initial value data measured and adjusted in the assembly stage of an imaging unit are stored in a memory provided in an imaging unit (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Generally, even in the case of camera modules of the same model, lens characteristics and a position of a defective picture-element of an imaging element are different from each other, because each camera module has an individual difference in physical characteristics and electrical characteristics of each part constituting the camera module.
However, in the structure to store control data corresponding to camera module types on the main unit side in advance, there is a problem that it is impossible to control optimally for an individual of camera modules.
In addition, a technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 is one relating to a lens-body all-in-one type camera wherein an imaging unit and a camera body are inseparable from each other because of the structure in which even characteristic data of the camera body (main unit) are stored in a memory device of an imaging unit, thus, this technology cannot be applied to an imaging device composed of a main unit and of a camera module which can be installed on and removed from the main unit.
(Patent Document 1) Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-98585